Month: August 2009

We have a new table in the Cole building, created for us by Ico Design in partnership with Sidekick Studios. It's not working at the moment, typically, because we've lost the little USB stick that contains the sound files, but the idea is nice. We're not always great at managing our time, particularly in meetings, so this table alerts meeting attendees to how much meeting time remains.

Ico say:

TimeTable helps meeting participants better manage their meetings by instilling a shared awareness
of the passing time. It controls the meeting in an elegant and unobtrusive manner. A simple twist
of a dial sets the length of the meeting at the start and a recorded voice announces, “Welcome to
TimeTable”. Then ten illuminated panels appear in the surface of the table, each panel representing a
tenth of the meeting time. As the time passes, panels are switched off and a sound effect is played,
and once the allotted meeting time has elapsed TimeTable politely informs attendees, "This meeting
is now complete, please leave the room in an orderly fashion."

As part of the upcoming onedotzero festival, w+k will be revealing the creative journey behind the brand identity at the BFI Southbank on the 10th of September at 7pm. At the event, w+k folk and karsten schmidt the computational designer
behind the custom brand identity application will be speaking.

anatomy of onedotzero festival identity. an in depth exploded view of
this years onedotzero festival identity design. a transmedia identity
created in a collaborative process with w+k london and karsten schmidt
that sought to explore, draw upon and involve the wider onedotzero
community, creating an organic and engaging experience. Speakers
include Karsten Schmidt.

Make sure you come along – the approach to this brief was unorthodox to
say the least! it'll be an interesting event for everyone from graphic
designers, generative artists to data vis junkies. We are looking to release the software so others can take the work and build new and exciting visuals.

Also running alongside the festival, the public can contribute and interact with a 50 metre wide projection on the side of the National Theatre.

A piece in the September issue of Creative Review about the identity we've developed with Karsten Schmidt for this year's onedotzero festival on the south bank. The identity draws on the festival's theme of 'convergence and collaboration'. It takes the chatter around the social networks when anyone mentions onedotzero and feeds it into the visual identity.

Here’s a little trailer for the exhibition we’re hosting on Wednesday and Thursday at the Old Dairy in Russell Square. It’s a photographic exhibition shot by none other than David Bailey. The portraits featured in the show were all taken by Bailey on an N86 8MP camera which is particularly good in low light; we’ve shown off this feature by working with Bailey to capture London after dark. Here’s a taste of the subjects we covered across the city and its fringes.

Optimism
among professionals in the third quarter hit its highest level since
the start of the financial crisis two years ago, the Institute of
Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) said.

The
confidence measure jumped to 4.8 at the end of June from -28.2 in March
– the biggest improvement since the survey began in 2003. The institute
predicts that the economy will grow by 0.5% this quarter, breaking five
quarters of falling output.

ICAEW chief executive Michael Izza said the findings suggest that "the UK recession is at an end".

Coupled with euphoria after England won the Ashes last night, the news fuelled gains on the London stockmarket this morning.